MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

WSJ: Karl Rove to Resign August 31

• Posted by Beth on August 13th, 2007 filed in General, Politics    

Tags: Karl Rove, White House, Bush

This just in on Fox News–the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Karl Rove will be resigning, effective August 31st. This apparently came from Andy Card to the WSJ.

Hang on while I find the link. OK, got it.

Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, he said in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. (See related editorial.)

Mr. Rove, who has held a senior post in the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001, told Mr. Gigot he first floated the idea of leaving a year ago. But he delayed his departure as, first, Democrats took Congress, and then as the White House tackled debates on immigration and Iraq, he said. He said he decided to leave after White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told senior aides that if they stayed past Labor Day they would be obliged to remain through the end of the president’s term in January 2009.

From Gigot’s editorial:

“I just think it’s time,” he says, adding that he first floated the idea of leaving to Mr. Bush a year ago. His friends confirm he had been talking about it with others even earlier. But Democrats took Congress, and he didn’t want to depart on that sour note. He then thought he’d leave after the State of the Union, but the Iraq and immigration fights beckoned. Finally, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told senior White House aides that if they stayed past a certain point, they were obliged to remain to Jan. 20, 2009.

“There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family,” Mr. Rove says. His son attends college in San Antonio, and he and his wife, Darby, plan to spend much of their time at their home in nearby Ingram, in the Texas Hill Country.

Mr. Rove doesn’t say, though others do, that this timing also allows him to leave on his own terms.

Well, yeah–it beats leaving when under fire, although I’m sure there will still be all sorts of ridiculous speculation, because that’s what the punditocracy does.

Anyway, I’m not gonna spend a lot of time kicking the guy on his way out, but I can’t say I think this is going to be a big loss for the Bush administration, either. Rove might be “Boy Genius” during elections, but Bush’s approval ratings certainly don’t indicate a lot of success in shaping public opinion during the actual Presidency. For someone allegedly a political genius, Rove has been a bit of a disappointment in my eyes, to say the least. I really wish he had left “on his own terms” a couple years ago, because a change in political strategy this late in the game isn’t likely to do much good.

I’m just going to miss getting my daily talking points faxes from Rove. (And does anyone know a good place to get the mind control chip replaced to sync with his replacement’s?) What will we do without being told what to say and write?! :mrgreen:

UPDATE: Silly me, how could I forget to post this again?

Hahahahaha, that still makes me laugh. Peace out, MC Rove!